SACRAMENTO, Calif. - The UC Davis men's and women's track and field teams will bring to a close a busy start to the season before taking a break for final exams next week when they travel across the causeway on Saturday for the Hornet Invitational at Sacramento State.

UC Davis, which began the spring with the Stanford Opener two weeks ago and the Aggie Open last weekend, will send a large contingent to the meet which will host several NCAA Division I programs, local junior colleges and unattached and club competitors.

"The Hornet Invitational offers a competitive opportunity to close a three-week cycle to open our season," said head coach Drew Wartenburg. "We always enjoy staying close to home for meets across the causeway, and we're hopeful that favorable conditions will facilitate good marks Saturday.

"Saturday also marks the last time that our squads will compete as nearly complete units before some of the upcoming invitationals," he added.

The Hornet Invitational begins with the hammer throw at 9:15 a.m. with the events on the track starting at 9:30 with the 5,000-meter run. Field events continue throughout the day before concluding with the triple jumps and women's discus at 2:30 p.m. The men's and women's 4x400 relays are scheduled to close the competition beginning at 4:40.

UC Davis has more than 80 entries in the meet, all of them hoping to build on already strong performances to start the year. The Aggie teams combined to win 16 events at their home meet last weekend, including two wins by thrower Praise Adesida and another by distance runner Alycia Cridebring who captured athlete of the week honors from the Big West.

Ethan Ostrom helped highlight the men's wins with his first-place in the pole vault. His mark of 17 feet, 0.75 inches is currently tied for the best in Div. I while Cridebring's 16 minutes, 38.85 is also tops in the country.

Following this weekend, UC Davis will return to competition with the San Francisco State Distance Carnival and Stanford Invitational which both begin on Mar. 29.